Leigh and the Children
by Qwara
Summary: A girl with a bad reputation and three young trainers go on a journey of selfdiscovery filled with emotions running the entire spectrum. My first fic. Not updating anymore.
1. The Thief Girl

A/N: This chapter, in my opinion, is the most boring, so if you find yourself in agreement with me, please keep reading on, it does get better! This is my first fic as well, so I hope you will forgive me if it's not a masterpiece. I can't get any better, though, unless I get some feedback, so please take time to leave a helpful review!

Disclaimer: I know that this will come as a shock to you, but – I don't own Pokemon. No joke.

**LEIGH AND THE CHILDREN**

_By Qwara_

**Chapter One: The Thief Girl**

Leigh leaned against the raspberry red door that entered into the side of a seemingly ordinary row house. It didn't have much curb appeal, as it was located in the center of the city slums. The paint on the door was fading and peeling, and the vinyl siding was clinging to the outside walls only by a thread. Leigh wiped some of the paint chips from the door off of her black leather jacket and onto the cracked pavement that covered the narrow alley she was standing in.

A black wide-brimmed hat shadowed Leigh's face. The heavy jacket she wore made her look shapeless, and her dark auburn hair was very short and was completely covered by the hat. She could have easily been mistaken for a male. Why would a lady be standing around so casually in such seedy parts, anyway? She smiled faintly and shoved her right hand into the pocket of her faded baggy jeans and leaned in closer to the door, her ear covering the tiny crack next to it that separated the door from the outside wall.

"…looked like…I…never forget… golden eyes," whimpered an exasperated female voice. Leigh narrowed her eyes. She had heard that voice before.

"I…she is…take care…her," replied a deep, brassy masculine voice. This voice was familiar to her, too, but she felt relieved to hear this one.

Leigh couldn't make out every word they said, but she didn't need to. She knew that the two people inside were talking about her. Everyone Leigh had ever met commented on her strange eye color, and asked her if she was born with them. To everyone's disappointment, Leigh told each of them that they were only colored contact lenses. Her eyes were actually a dark brown; she never liked them much.

The deep male voice she heard belonged to her father's friend, Duke Mahogany. He was a hit man; an excellent one, at that. Leigh wasn't troubled by the fact that the woman was trying to hire him. Leigh's father was very powerful – Duke couldn't afford to kill his friend's daughter. Leigh was, however, surprised that the woman had resorted to hiring someone like Duke to kill her.

Sure, Leigh had kidnapped the woman's Clefairy, but she hadn't seemed like the vengeful type. Not that it mattered anyway. Leigh was untouchable. She was the daughter of the leader of the Paradise Team.

Leigh knew that the things that the Paradise Team did wasn't moral or right. If she had been given the choice, Leigh probably wouldn't have joined. But her father was the leader – and he didn't think there was anything wrong with the Paradise Team, so Leigh wasn't allowed to think that there was either.

Leigh was only twelve when her father had her join. She recalled her first kidnapping. She had gone along with her brother Thomas to kidnap a Pikachu, fabled to be extraordinarily strong and could be sold on the black market for thousands, perhaps millions. The preteen Leigh was heartbroken when she saw the crushed look on its trainer's face when he realized that his companion had been stolen. But Leigh quickly learned how to ignore her conscience. Kidnapping a Pokemon had to be done quickly and quietly – there wasn't any time to ponder whether it was immoral.

Leigh stood up straight and began to make her way back to the main street so that she could return to the Paradise Team Headquarters. There was nothing left for her to do; Duke would take care of the rest.

She looked up to the sky as she exited the alley. It was a lovely day – the sun shone brightly against the bright blue skies. The sky was nearly cloudless except for a few white, fluffy clouds resting on the horizon. Leigh noted how perfect the day was; but she didn't think about it much longer. She then tripped over something lying on the sidewalk and fell flat on her face.

She groaned and slowly sat up, wiping blood off of her face, scratched by the cement. She looked back at whatever had caused her to fall, and realized that it was a man; and then Leigh realized that not all of the blood she was wiping off of herself was hers. She saw that the man had a knife driven deep into his chest, with a crumpled piece of paper stuffed in his mouth. This wouldn't have startled Leigh since it was perhaps the worst part of town – but what did startle her was that the man was Duke.

Stunned, she quickly crawled over to him and took the paper out of his mouth. Leigh wasn't surprised that he was attacked since he was a hit man – but she _was_ surprised that he had lost. He was a huge, muscular man; most people would run at the sight of him, not even thinking about attacking him.

Leigh flattened the piece of paper out on the sidewalk, and read in sloppy handwriting:

"I know who you are, Leigh Paradise; and I'm going to find you, you rotten thief!"

The note wasn't signed. Leigh shoved it into her pocket and quickly drew herself up to her feet. She had never been threatened before. If the woman in the room had killed Duke, she would have had access to all of the files he stored in his office. That was bad news for Leigh – bad news for the Paradise Team. She would have to leave; but where? After she had thought of a destination, she walked briskly across the street.

There was trouble in Paradise.


	2. Lost in the Slums

**Chapter Two: Lost in the Slums**

Twins Kata and Keiji were twelve years old. Kata was very pretty – she had waist-length, jet black hair and bright green eyes. Her skin was perfectly tanned with olive undertones. Kata also got teased the most in school. She had a long scar running down the left side of her face. It was horrible, ugly. Kata had had it for so long she didn't even remember how she had gotten it. All she knew about her scar was that the other kids thought it was ugly, too, and they thought that that was reason enough to taunt her endlessly about it.

Her brother, Keiji, looked very much the same as Kata except he didn't have his sister's green eyes or her scar. He had dull, dusty brown eyes instead. Keiji had always felt protective of his sister. Kata was too afraid to say anything when she was teased, so Keiji would tell them off for her. For this reason, Kata spent a lot of time around her brother.

Not only were the twins the same age, but they were also both very frightened. Today was their birthday – and they were lost in the city on their way to get their first Pokemon. Kata clung to her brother's arm as they walked down the dirty street, the young girl's eyes wide in alarm.

"Why did mom let us go on our own?" Kata asked her brother bitterly, frowning. She knew that her mother meant well; she of course hadn't meant for them to become hopelessly lost. But she had to rest the blame on someone, and parents were the easiest to blame. Kata stared at a man walking down the sidewalk on the opposite side of the street who was wearing tattered clothes and had mangled, greasy hair. He didn't look trustworthy, Kata decided.

"She said if we were going travel with Pokemon, we had better at least learn our way to the lab," Keiji replied absently, still staring straight ahead. He bit his lip. He didn't want to show that he was just as terrified as his sister. Normally he would have quickly thought of something to humor Kata, but he was having a hard enough time just processing all of the sights, sounds and smells around him. Keiji inhaled a large, nervous breath and then cringed. It smelled as if they were wading through a sewer.

Keiji heard a loud screech and quickly turned, seeing that the scream was Kata's.

"What's wrong?" Keiji asked, confused. He spun about, looking over buildings to see if someone was creeping over one to attack them. He didn't see anything worth screaming about – unless, Keiji thought, it had finally sunk in that they were in such a dreadful neighborhood. The thought amused him, but only for a moment.

"T-t-here's a d-d-dead p-p-person," Kata stuttered, pointing to the sidewalk in front of them. Keiji followed her finger and quickly stepped back. She was right – lying there was a huge man, apparently stabbed to death. Keiji wondered who could be able to murder such a man.

"We need to get out of here," Keiji concluded and took his sister's tiny hand and began to run. Kata didn't argue, and followed her brother wherever he was headed. As Keiji dragged her along, Kata couldn't help but think she was in some kind of cruel fanfiction where the author wanted to scare them out of their wits.

"Stop Keiji, I can't see!" Kata yelled, letting go of her brother's hand. Her long black hair had whipped into her face. She quickly pulled it away, tucking it neatly behind her ears. Keiji turned his head to see how far back his sister was, but didn't stop running. Kata thought it looked kind of silly, his head turned one way and his legs going the other. Then she looked to where her brother's feet were headed and gasped suddenly.

"Keiji, you're going to…" Kata began, but stopped when Keiji ran right into someone who was walking down the street and knocked himself and the other person over. Kata flinched as they fell onto each other and then rushed to help her brother up. She was worried that this person might have been the one who killed the dead man they had seen, and wanted to get out of there as soon as possible. Kata looked over the stranger her brother had toppled. His (or her) face was completely hidden by a large black hat. She thought it looked very shady – she was probably up to no good.

"S-s-sorry, sir," Keiji mumbled as his sister helped him to his feet.

"I'm not a man!" cried the stranger, who could be clearly distinguished as female now. She quickly gathered herself and stood up while flinging the hat that had hidden her face off. Kata and Keiji observed that she was indeed female, with auburn pixie-cut hair. She had soft, feminine features, which wasn't what either of the twins had expected. She had unmistakable yellow eyes with golden flecks. She gave Keiji such a piercing look that he swore had she stared at him a moment longer a hole would have been burnt right through him.

"Sorry," Keiji said quickly, his face reddening with embarrassment. He looked the girl over again and saw why he had made his mistake. She was wearing a very heavy leather jacket and baggy jeans. With her face hidden she could have easily been either gender.

"Were you in a fight?" he questioned, forgetting his manners. He studied the scratches that covered the teenaged girl's face. As soon as Keiji said it he regretted it – he would have been angry if someone had asked the same thing about Kata's scar.

"No," the girl replied, "I tripped over Du—the dead man lying on the sidewalk." She glanced back at the corpse lying on the sidewalk across the street that had given Kata quite a fright. Keiji knew what dead man she was referring to and didn't follow her glance. His five second study of him earlier was all the more he needed to see. Kata was looking the girl over again, wondering why she had said 'Du' before she corrected herself and said 'the dead man'. Keiji, however, had clearly overlooked that.

"Oh," Keiji said, relieved that there wasn't an embarrassing reason behind it, "what's your name?"

"Leigh Paradise," Leigh told the children thoughtlessly. She then clasped her hands over her mouth. This earned her another skeptical look from Kata. Leigh had just told these children her last name. They _were_ only children – but what if they were spies? Leigh hoped that they thought she had said her last name was 'Paradise' to show off, or that they didn't know about the Paradise Team at all. If they didn't believe it, it wouldn't have been the first time someone thought she was lying about her surname.

"What are your names? And what are children your age doing here?" she snapped, suspicious.

"My name is Keiji Maple and my sister here is Kata Maple," Keiji told Leigh, clearly not as suspicious of Leigh as Leigh was of them or as Kata was of Leigh. "We got lost on the way to the Pokemon lab. Today is our twelfth birthday – and you don't look very old, either."

Kata was becoming annoyed that Keiji was telling this stranger information about them freely. What if she kidnapped them – or worse, killed them? Kata hoped she and her brother wouldn't be accompanying the dead man across the road.

"I'm sixteen," Leigh said matter-of-factly.

"So you got lost on the way to the Pokemon lab, did you? It's definitely nowhere around here! Look, how about I take you there? It's on the way to where I'm going," she offered. When Keiji looked into her face he thought she looked sincere, but when Kata did she could have sworn there was an evil twinkle in her eye.

"No," Kata replied plainly. She had had enough of this suspicious character. Leigh wondered if the girl had only now realized who the Paradise family was. She was ready to run for it if the girl suddenly spat out accusations that she had stolen her parents' Pokemon or the like.

"What! Why?" Keiji asked his sister, shocked that she would refuse help. Keiji seriously doubted that a sixteen-year-old girl was going to be a serial killer.

"Keiji, this girl that we meet _right next_ to a dead body is supposedly offering to help us. I can put two and two together even if you can't. She's going to sell us as slaves or something, not get us to the Pokemon lab!" Kata said exasperatedly, waving her arms around in the air madly as if this was going to prove her point. Leigh smothered a small laugh in her arm as Kata finished her wild hand motions.

"I promise you I'm not going to sell you," Leigh said, serious now. "Of course, you only have my word to go by."

"Come on, Kata, if we don't go then we'll just be wandering around forever!" Keiji pointed out. After seeing a dead man sprawled out across the sidewalk, he didn't care _how _he got out of this awful place – he just knew he wanted to leave as soon as possible.

"…Fine," his sister replied after some hesitation. It was only her fright of the neighborhood that persuaded her to agree.

"This way, then," Leigh said and began to walk down a different street than the one that they were on, passing a cruddy looking park with browning grass and cracked wooden benches with graffiti sprayed all over them. Litter was strewn all through the park and the trash bins were bursting with banana peels, old newspaper and candy wrappers. Kata examined it as they walked by, cringing.


	3. Starter Pokemon

**Chapter Three: Starter Pokemon**

Leigh pondered why she had placed herself in this position as she walked through Amethyst City, two twelve-year-olds trailing behind her. She had never been too keen of children, refusing the few babysitting job offers that she did receive. What was she doing here, wasting her time?

Then Leigh got an idea. She wasn't wasting her time. Her golden eyes glimmered with just a hint of malice.

"So, how'd you get that scar?" Leigh asked Kata in a bored voice, examining the long scar running down the side of her face. Kata didn't reply – she merely scowled at Leigh and then tried to hide her scar by placing her hair in front of it.

"She doesn't like to talk about it," Keiji explained, saying nothing more. Leigh looked around. They were no longer in the scummy neighborhood they had begun in – the sidewalks were in relatively good shape and there was no broken glass anywhere. There was a nice little community park to their right, complete with swing sets and see-saws. There was a boy of about ten showing off a Goldeen to a crowd of preschoolers with bored expressions on their faces. Leigh smirked. She had seen Pokemon much more extraordinary in her sixteen years of life – and by the looks on their faces, the preschoolers had too.

"Here we are," Leigh announced cheerfully. Kata and Keiji smiled, eyeing the large Pokemon laboratory in front of them. So this was where their journey began. It looked out of place next to all of the row houses that lined the straight streets. It was a large white building, just beyond the park they had passed. It was rather plain, resembling an oversized cracker box house. There was a small walkway leading up to the unremarkable front door. Over the black, swinging doors of the entrance, "Amethyst City Pokemon Lab" was written in large gold block lettering.

"Thanks," Keiji said to Leigh gratefully, "I think we should be able to find our way now." Keiji glanced past the laboratory and down the street, as if expecting to see Leigh beginning to make her way down it at any moment now. Kata breathed a sigh of relief – she was nervous enough about traveling this far with the strange girl.

"Actually," Leigh replied, "I was wondering if I could come along with you." She smiled as innocently as she could manage. Kata held her breath. Keiji couldn't possibly agree to travel any further with Leigh, could he? She would have to sleep with one eye open, making sure that the girl didn't try to rob or kill them!

"Why?" Keiji asked suspiciously. Kata was glad that her brother had finally seen the light – he _should _be suspicious. He should have been when they first crossed paths with this girl! If she was looking for an excuse to ruthlessly murder the twins, Keiji knocking her over might suffice as a motive.

"Well," said Leigh, pulling a small package out of her coat pocket, "I'm meant to deliver this to Silver Town. I thought some company couldn't hurt." Kata examined the package. It was about six inches long and two inches wide. It was wrapped neatly in brown paper, with white ribbon tied around it in a sloppy bow.

"Silver Town – that's the other side of the country!" exclaimed Keiji. Kata supposed she had named this town so that she could travel with them as long as possible. She eyed her twin nervously, hoping that he wasn't seriously considering bringing this girl along.

"Yes," said Leigh casually, "that's why I thought some company would be nice."

"…All right," replied Keiji after some hesitation with a hint of uncertainty in his voice. Kata shot a disapproving look to her brother who in turn ignored her, and the three of them walked into the lab without another word.

There was a tired man sitting at a long desk in the reception area. He had thinning chocolate brown hair streaked with gray. Keiji and Kata recognized him has Professor Magnolia – he was their father's friend, and the reason that they were getting Pokemon today. The professor looked up at the three with a weak smile. He had paperwork all over his desk, and the bags under his eyes indicated that he had been working on them through the night.

"Hello Kata, Keiji – and who is this?" inquired Professor Magnolia in a weary voice, gesturing towards Leigh. Leigh looked at the twins nervously, wondering if they were going to say her last name. The Paradise family had a bad reputation for obvious reasons, and she didn't want the professor to begin bad-mouthing her family.

"This is our friend Leigh," Keiji told the professor. Leigh wiped a drop of sweat off of her forehead. She was sweating because she was nervous, but everyone else in the room thought it was because she was wearing such a heavy jacket on such a beautifully warm day. She could feel the stare of the professor's eyes as he looked her over as he did a double-take of her eyes.

"Nice to meet you," he said weakly when he had finished and then returned to the papers he had been poring over.

A girl not much older than Leigh suddenly appeared from out of a long hallway in front of them. She smiled, baring huge, pearly white teeth. Her golden locks bounced as she approached Kata, Keiji and Leigh as though she was walking down a runway, her hips swaying from side to side furiously. Leigh didn't bother hiding a scowl as she looked over the girl's spotless complexion and perfect hourglass shape.

"Hello!" she said to them cheerfully, "my name is Daisy. Professor Magnolia said you would be coming; Kata, Keiji and…?"

"Leigh," Leigh grunted, anxious to get away from Daisy and her fake cheerfulness. Daisy ignored Leigh's unpleasant tone and continued to smile. It was becoming more creepy than welcoming. Daisy waited as if she expected one of them to speak, but no one did. Clearly Daisy's approach had rubbed each of them the wrong way.

"Right this way then!" Daisy said to break the awkward silence and began to lead them down the hall. They observed that all of the doors seemed to be closed except for one on the left hand side at the end of the hallway. Sure enough, that was where Daisy led them.

It was a huge room, swarming with ten to twelve year old children, walking around to various bins and staring at the pokeballs, then putting them down again and proceeding to look at others. There was another girl, who looked much grumpier than Daisy, who was breaking up a fight between two boys who, apparently, both wanted the same Pokemon. She wore an oversized sweater and plain black trousers. Her bright red hair stuck out in all the wrong places and her face looked like it was being eaten by bad acne and freckles. But nonetheless she didn't look like she ought to be crossed – the angry glint in her dull brown eyes was unmistakable.

"All of the pokeballs are labeled with the Pokemon they can contain. I'm afraid that most of the popular ones have been taken… but you can choose which ever you like that's left! Once you have decided what you want, Diana can help you," she said, her gaze drifting to the red-haired girl who was now breaking up a fight, giving her a look that showed she disapproved of her less-than-cheery behavior and un-Barbie-dollish appearance.

Kata and Keiji mumbled something that must have been a "thanks", but Leigh said nothing and walked into the room, the twins following closely behind her.

"I'll just… wait over here," Leigh said, gesturing to a corner of the room. She had no desire to walk amongst the over-zealous preteens who were swarming over the bins of pokeballs. If the twins dragged her along she would have a look on her face not unlike Diana's in no time at all. Kata and Keiji nodded and disappeared into the crowd of children.

Leigh sat down on the floor in the corner of the room, twiddling her thumbs until the twins returned about fifteen minutes later with gleaming red and white pokeballs in their hands. There was also a third person with them.

"Hello," Leigh said, "who's this?" She gestured to the boy who was standing next to Kata. He looked like a rainbow compared to Kata, who was wearing a plain black-and-white outfit. This boy was wearing a bright red vest over a yellow t-shirt which was just as bright. His blue jeans were blue enough to blind someone and his red sneakers and hat topped off the ensemble of primary colors. He had bright blue eyes and mousy brown hair, and he looked as if his excitement exceeded all of the other children's excitement put together.

"My name is Travis!" said the boy loudly in a high-pitched voice. He looked relieved to have spoken as if he would have burst if he had spoken a moment later. Even though he had only told Leigh his name, she knew that she was going to wish that they had never met very soon. Perhaps this was her father's motivation for robbing innocent people of their Pokemon – this boy's reaction to robbery, Leigh imagined, would be so astounding that she would cackle for days on end.

"Kata has told me all about how they're traveling with a _sixteen-year-old_!" he exclaimed, clearly impressed that she was sixteen. Leigh smirked – what would he think if he knew she was in the infamous Paradise team? He would probably be impressed with that, too. Then a horrible thought crossed Leigh's mind.

"He's not…?" Leigh breathed, but she stopped when Keiji inclined his head slowly, answering her question before she had even finished it. She snapped her mouth shut, eyeing Travis in horror. The little brat was going to be traveling with them. Leigh couldn't believe that any human being in their right mind would accept this kid into their traveling group with open arms. She supposed that this was Kata's will, judging by the way she was beaming at Travis happily.

"So what Pokemon did you guys get?" Leigh asked, trying to hide her disappointment that Travis was going to be joining them, looking at the pokeballs they held. She could read the labels on each one clearly, but wanted to know how they felt about their Pokemon and the nicknames they had given them.

"I got a _Weedle_!" Travis bragged as if it was a legendary. Leigh snorted. She then looked at Kata and Keiji, making it obvious that she was much more interested in what they had to say than what Travis did. Perhaps she was a little biased towards the kid, just a little… but unfortunately Leigh's first impressions were usually right.

"I have a Pidgey," Kata said, "I named her Candie." She smiled at her Pokeball, looking satisfied at what she had received. She had, however, noticed Leigh's reaction to what Travis had said and was now frowning at her. How dare she be so rude! If Kata had had it her way, Leigh wouldn't have been with them at all.

"I picked an Oddish named Fern," Keiji told Leigh, sounding bored. Leigh could tell that he had been hoping for something a little more extraordinary. "But I _wish_ I had a Weedle instead!" he added sarcastically. Leigh sniggered – Kata shifted her frown to aim at her brother. Travis seemed to be completely oblivious to his sarcasm, though.

"Well, you can't have everything!" Travis said, stroking his pokeball lovingly. This confirmed Leigh's first impression – this kid was a total git. She hoped that he was dumb enough to get lost in the forest, whenever they entered one. By the look on Keiji's face, he shared her feelings.

"Tell Leigh what you named your Weedle!" Keiji said to Travis. Leigh braced herself for something incredibly dumb.

"Oh, I named him Bug-Master," Travis said casually. A strange, contorted smile formed on Leigh's face as she tried to hold back fits of laughter. She had guessed that it was going to be dumb, but not _that_ dumb. Keiji wasn't doing as well as Leigh at hiding laughter, muffling his laughs by stuffing his face into his new bright red Pokedex that matched Travis' vest beautifully. Kata wasn't laughing, but glaring at Keiji as if he was teasing a crippled man. She was usually amused by his jokes, but not this time. Neither Keiji nor Leigh had given poor Travis a chance!

"Well I think it's a _lovely_ name," Kata said sternly and turned on her heel, heading for the exit. Travis looked at Kata confusedly, obviously not understanding what she was upset about. This dumbfounded look nearly restarted Keiji's laughs, but he restrained himself by thinking about how angry Kata was with him.

"Don't you have to tell that girl…?" Leigh asked, glancing over at Diana, who was now scolding a pair of frightened eleven-year-old girls who were clutching each other as if they were bracing themselves for a tornado. The horrified expressions on their faces were priceless.

"Oh, we already did," Kata said, not bothering to turn around, and continued to leave. Leigh got up and followed Travis and Keiji out, relieved that she didn't have to face the wrath of Diana.

Professor Magnolia smiled and waved as they left the reception area, but no one noticed because Travis was babbling on about how he was going to become a Pokemon master with his Weedle. Leigh and Keiji both wondered why Kata liked him so much.

Leigh had now taken the lead and was taking them out of the city and into a deep valley that stretched to the horizon. It looked quite different from boring Amethyst City – there were stretches of wildflowers, bright green patches of tall grass, and Leigh thought she saw the glimmer of water somewhere in the distance. Perhaps they could lose Travis in the tall grass, Leigh mused.

As Travis continued to brag (Leigh was wondering how he could think up things to boost his ego so quickly), Keiji mumbled something of which the only words Leigh could make out were "Travis" and "bighead". Kata, however, was grinning madly at Travis, staring at him as if he was an amazing piece of art. _Yeah, he's a piece of work_, Leigh thought with a silent laugh as they descended into the valley. It was going to be a long day.


	4. Anger and Distrust

**Chapter Four: Anger and Distrust**

And a long day it was. The sky was now an inky black, sprinkled with stars and a large, pale moon. Kata, Keiji, Travis and Leigh had set up camp in a remote area of the valley a little ways off of the route. They were sitting around a small, crackling fire now, roasting hot dogs and marshmallows that they had bought from a traveling salesman who happened to wander past them. There was a small, blue-green tent pitched behind them, with each of their sleeping bags already rolled out within it.

When they had entered the valley earlier that day, it seemed like it was going to be quite uneventful, and that they would trudge along while Travis talked himself hoarse. But a boy of about fourteen had been unfortunate enough to cross paths with them, and Travis challenged him to a Pokemon battle immediately.

Travis lost miserably to the other boy's skilled Snubbull. Leigh thought that this would, at the very least, get him to shut up about how great he was already with Pokemon, but instead it made him talk all the more. He made up half-caulked excuses as to why he had lost and then went back to his monotonous boasting. He seemed to think that he needed to rebuild his badly damaged ego. The only person in the group that gave him their unwavering attention was Kata, who was just as transfixed with him as she was when she had first spotted him. Keiji and Leigh couldn't help but feel a twinge of admiration towards Kata for being so loyal to him.

At dusk, Travis told them all about the incredibly portable tent that his parents had bought him after he cleaned his room. _So he's arrogant _and_ spoiled_, thought Leigh in disgust. It would be nice, though, to sleep under a tent, rather than having nothing to cover their heads from the elements.

Kata, Keiji and Travis had released their Pokemon and they were now wandering freely about the campsite. Kata's Pidgey, Candie, sat around the fire next to Leigh and ruffled her feathers, giving Travis' Weedle a pitiful look while clicking her beak as if to say 'tut-tut-tut'. The Weedle (or Bug-Master, as Travis fondly called him) seemed to be very hyperactive and had been inching around the campsite in dizzying circles ever since he had been released out of his pokeball. Keiji's Oddish was named Fern, and was staying as far away from the fire as possible by sitting inside the open tent, watching the fire nervously as if she thought it was going to explode and that she would consequently go up in flames.

Leigh was sitting cross-legged on her leather jacket which she had laid out on the ground. She was wearing a powdery blue beater and was eating the hot dog that she had just finished roasting ferociously as though she hadn't eaten in weeks.

"You know," Travis said after he swallowed one of his burnt marshmallows whole, "I reckon that I should keep watch tonight. I don't need much sleep, so don't worry. We're out in the wild, you know, and we don't want any wild Pokemon attacking us while we sleep! Weedle and I can fend them off while you sleep peacefully. You guys can't say no to that, can you? It's quite generous of me, if I do say so myself." He then smiled broadly at his own proposal, looking very pleased with himself as he popped another marshmallow into his mouth. Kata beamed, as if it was the greatest idea since the wheel. Leigh ignored Travis, like she had been doing all day, and Keiji snorted.

"The only wild Pokemon in this valley are Rattatas," Keiji said, "and I don't think they can wreak too much havoc!" Candie straightened her poise as if to say, 'I can eat the Rattatas if they cause too much trouble'. Keiji noticed and smiled at her, in agreement that she could probably do a better job than Travis and his Weedle. Candie gave her best smug look and then looked at Kata, who was frowning at Keiji. The Pidgey wondered why _Keiji_ couldn't have chosen her instead as a starter.

"Well," Kata snapped, "Travis can do whatever he likes." Travis smiled weakly at Kata, then turned back towards Keiji and cleared his throat, as if preparing to make a very important announcement. Kata bore holes through Travis' skull as she stared at him intently.

"No," Travis told Kata, pretending to look defeated, "your brother is right. We'll be fine. We don't need to be protected. I'm sure my flimsy tent will hold up _just fine_ against _packs _of Rattatas." Kata gasped, as if she thought that Travis was being silly to agree with Keiji. Leigh shook her head sadly as Kata fell for his guilt trip, still avoiding eye contact with any of the younger children.

"You don't have to stop protecting us just because my loser of a brother doesn't think it's a good idea!" Kata piped in. Keiji's face slowly turned to pink, then red, and then, to Leigh's astonishment, deep purple. He flung his last uneaten marshmallow into the fire and stood up, burning as hot as his now charred marshmallow with rage.

"Well your loser of a brother is going to go to bed while you listen to Travis gloat!" he bellowed. Even Leigh was a little unnerved by the tone of his voice, forgetting that he was four years younger than her. Kata's face went pale as she regretted what she had just said. Travis, however, looked as happy as could be, thinking that he couldn't have gotten himself a better outcome if he had planned the entire thing (which he sort of had).

"I… I didn't…" Kata whispered, but it was too late. Keiji had already disappeared into the tent, and with a streak of blinding light, Fern disappeared into her pokeball. Leigh now, instead of being frightened of Keiji, was rather disgusted with both Kata and Travis. She shoved her last hot dog down her throat and chewed it violently. She stood up, and after she had swallowed, announced that she was going to go to bed as well. Kata and Travis wordlessly waved goodnight to her and she strode into the tent.

She looked over to where Keiji was laying. He had buried his face in his pillow and Leigh could tell by the way that his body was heaving that he was sobbing silently. She walked over to him and touched him lightly on the shoulder. Keiji turned over; his face was drenched in tears, and he let out a great, huge sob.

"Don't touch me!" he wailed, and turned back over and continued to cry without saying anything else. Leigh gave up her attempt to soothe him and slipped into her pale gray sleeping bag. She blocked out thoughts of the day and, after counting two-hundred-and-seventy-three sheep jumping over a fence, fell asleep.

By the time that Leigh had fallen asleep, Travis and Kata had made their way into the tent. Travis fell asleep the moment his head had touched his pillow and was now snoring softly. He had decided against keeping guard, apparently. Candie had perched herself at the end of Kata's sleeping bag, refusing to return to her pokeball. She was still convinced that she was going to devour any intruding Rattatas. Keiji's mind was swarming with thought and was staring up at the roof of the tent, wide awake. He hadn't bothered to wipe the tears off of his face, so they were drying onto his skin. Kata was sitting up and she looked over at her brother. Keiji dodged her glance.

"Keiji, I'm sorry," Kata whispered. "I was just angry that you were being so mean to Travis!" She looked at Keiji again, hoping that he would look back, but he didn't. He continued to stare straight at the ceiling, taking his time before he replied. He shook his head slowly.

"Why do you like him so much? Leigh doesn't like him either," he replied coldly. On the other side of the tent, Leigh stirred. Their talking, as quiet as it was, had woken her. She had always been a light sleeper. She pretended to be asleep, though, finding this the perfect opportunity to eavesdrop. Kata sighed.

"He spotted me when we were picking out Pokemon, and he told me my scar was cool. He said I was really pretty, too," she said, her facing flushing a deep pink. Keiji rolled his eyes. So that's the only reason he had to endure Travis and his madness; because he had complimented his sister?

"You don't need that smelly dingbat to tell you you're pretty," Keiji snorted. Kata looked a little hurt at the words 'smelly dingbat'. She paused, her index finger on her chin as she thought of something to say in return.

"He's not a smelly dingbat!" Kata insisted, a bit of desperation in her voice, "and besides, why do you like that Leigh so much? I don't trust her, not one bit! I bet that package she showed us that she wanted to deliver is filled with rubbish! Travis, at least he's honest!" Keiji thought about what her sister had said. Perhaps it was a little suspicious; he had been a little reluctant to agree to let her come. But there was something about her that Keiji sensed – something sincere.

"I know," Keiji replied, "but I just have a gut feeling that she's all right. You just have to trust me about her, Kata; I don't know how to explain it." Without another word Kata lay down in her sleeping bag and closed her eyes. She didn't want to push Keiji's patience again. Besides, she should be _happy_ – it's her first night as a true Pokemon trainer. Kata tried not to let herself think about Keiji being angry with her and slipped into a luxurious, deep sleep.


	5. The First Catch

**Chapter Five: The First Catch**

Leigh stuffed her breakfast, which was a cheese sandwich that Kata had prepared, down her throat as she violently jerked the stakes that held the tent they had slept in out of the ground. None of the children's Pokemon was able to help her, because neither Fern the Oddish nor Bug-Master the Weedle had arms. And Kata's Pidgey, Candie, had too much dignity to try and pull a stake out of the ground with her feet. Travis sat cross-legged on the ground, his face buried in his Pokedex, ignoring his food, while the twins wolfed down their sandwiches so that they could help.

"Too good for work, eh, Travis?" Keiji asked sullenly as he got up and headed over to the tent. Travis mumbled something inaudible in reply, not bothering to look up. Kata had decided to begin to ignore Keiji's rude comments about Travis, because if she frowned at him every time he insulted her friend's intelligence, she would have wrinkles by the time she was fourteen.

It took what felt like hours for Leigh, Keiji and Kata to roll up the teal canvas to be small enough to fit into the tiny package that it had come out of. Meanwhile, Travis was scribbling something into a mint green notepad that he had pulled out of one of the many pockets in his vest. Keiji suggested that he was learning his colors, while Leigh thought that he was probably mapping out his way to becoming a 'Pokemon master'. Either way, it was a poor excuse for not helping.

When they had finally finished tearing down camp, they put their backpacks back on and headed back towards the route, which they would continue on heading west until they reached Gooseberry Town.

The route, at this point, was cut through tall, willowy grass that was, for the most part, a dusty golden color. The end of the valley that they were in was drawing nearer, so they could see less and less of what was ahead of them and more of its end sloping upwards. Fern seemed to be enjoying the grasses surrounding them, while Bug-Master was completely oblivious to his surroundings and was circling around Travis endlessly. Candie would fly around them occasionally, scoping out the area and showing off how gracefully she glided through the air.

"_Oddish!_" yelped Fern suddenly, who had fallen behind by just a little. Everyone turned around immediately, and saw that a Rattata had pounced on top of her and had now opened its mouth, boasting two large, gleaming front teeth, ready to bite at the Oddish's bulbous blue face. Travis pointed his gleaming blood-red Pokedex at the offending Pokemon, staring at the screen intently.

"Use Absorb, Fern!" Keiji commanded, and then the Rattata was surrounded in a bright green glow as Fern drew life from it. The Rattata rolled off of the Oddish as its stamina was slowly sucked away. When Fern stopped, she was looking rejuvenated, while the Rattata was merely a heap of mulberry fur, lying on the route and twitching uncontrollably. It lifted its trembling head, and then suddenly charged at a deeply surprised Fern at incredible speeds. Without being told, Fern wriggled herself free of the smaller Pokemon's grasp and began to draw life from it again. A bruise on her back healed, while the Rattata was once again reduced to a heaving purple pelt.

A red and white pokeball flew over Fern's head, falling before the Rattata and opening, the unaware rat Pokemon disappearing into it with a flash of white light. The tiny ball wriggled violently and then, all at once, stopped. A beaming Keiji walked over to it, kneeled, and picked it up, attaching his first catch to his belt. Kata and Leigh were both deeply impressed, neither of them ever having seen a Pokemon caught properly before.

"…If you see one, it is certain that forty more live in that area," said Travis aloud, who was still reading his Pokedex. As if the travelers had been jinxed, there came a rustling in the grasses when he had finished. Then Rattatas began pouring out behind them, squeaking variations of '_Rattata!_' angrily.

"Run!" yelled Keiji, and they all bounded away from the blur of tiny rat-like Pokemon. Fern and Bug-Master were both returned to their pokeballs since neither were excellent runners, while the children and Leigh had to sprint at full-speed in order to keep sight of Candie. They made good time, running as fast as humanly possible, and had left the valley far ahead of schedule. The Rattatas only desisted when they had completely exited it.

Wheezing and huffing, the children and Leigh stopped to take a rest. Candie the Pidgey circled around like a vulture, checking to make sure that none of the Rattatas were still around, and then landed lightly next to Kata, who was laying on her back, her chest heaving as she stared into the pale blue sky. Leigh was the only one who hadn't collapsed on the spot, as she was much more fit than the children. She pulled a tankard of water out of her backpack and took a large gulp, then spat it out impromptu. It had been lying around in her bag for ages, and it had a foul, bitter taste to it.

"Can I have some of that?" Keiji gasped, gesturing to Leigh's tankard. Leigh shook her head furiously and stuffed it back into the large compartment of her backpack. Keiji looked confused as to why she was depriving him of hydration.

"It's awful, it tastes surprisingly like Miltank dung," Leigh explained, and Keiji asked no more. Travis flung a large bottle of water that sparkled in the sunlight out of his own backpack. The twins looked at it longingly, their tongues becoming dryer with every second they spent watching Travis down it. He finished his huge gulp and then glanced at a panting Keiji and Kata with fake surprise, pretending he had only noticed now how thirsty they were.

"Oh, you look thirsty," Travis said to Kata, "here." He tossed her the bottle and she beamed at him gratefully, taking a well-earned swig of the shimmering water. When she had finished, she looked relieved and threw it back at Travis.

"Can I—?" Keiji asked, transfixed on the water. Travis chuckled. Leigh glared. Kata shot Keiji a 'you're-getting-what-you-deserve' look.

"How about you trade me your Oddish for it?" Travis asked with a mischievous grin, waving the water around in the air. Keiji snorted. It wasn't necessary to reply – it was the most outrageous proposal he had heard from the senseless boy yet. Travis shrugged when he didn't accept and stuffed the bottle back into his backpack.

"Fancy a swig of essence of Miltank dung?" Leigh offered, but Keiji declined.

Leigh and the children sat around for a while longer as they rebuilt their strength. Everyone (except Travis) discussed what he should name his new Rattata; Keiji decided on naming him Contremo by Leigh's suggestion. Travis just scribbled more notes, glancing up to give Keiji a look of sheer jealousy every now and then. How could _he_ have caught a Pokemon before him? He wasn't even trying! It was just because the Rattata decided to go after Fern first...

They heard footsteps and looked up. Passing them was a man wearing a well-tailored black tuxedo, his black hair slicked back with what must have been an entire bottle of hair gel. He looked very out of place, dressed so formally. The man had sickly pale skin and his eyes and cheeks were sunken in. Walking next to him was a Clefairy. It didn't have a Clefairy's usual cheery charm, and instead she had her head down, watching her feet intently. She looked clean enough, but the long scars across her back were unmistakable. The man and his melancholy Pokemon stopped to examine the children. His eyes stopped at Leigh, and she gulped nervously. She recognized him – it was the man that she had sold the prized Clefairy to. The powdery pink fluff ball with rosy red cheeks standing next to him was the reason that she was here in the first place. She couldn't help but feel a little angry at it – but perhaps it was inevitable. Could she have possibly gone on like she was forever? But then again, her father had…

The man turned his head, hair unmoving, and smiled, baring crooked coffee-stained teeth. He said nothing, to Leigh's relief. The children looked at him skeptically, and then at Leigh.

"_Cle-fairy_," hissed the Clefairy in a shockingly hoarse voice. The man noticed his Pokemon's reaction, and began to walk away.

"Come on, Pippi, let's go..." he mumbled, and they disappeared without a single word to the travelers. Travis was obviously doing an intense reading about the Clefairy now, as his face was almost entirely hidden by his Pokedex. He had his nose so close to it, Leigh wondered if he was in desperate need of glasses.

"Friendly, wasn't he?" commented Keiji as they got to their feet. They had rested long enough. Kata, however, seemed to think that there was more to it. Leigh got a sinking feeling in her stomach that she would never be able to escape her identity. Perhaps she was doomed to be a thief forever; maybe she would be better off returning to Team Paradise. It would have been easy for her to steal the children's Pokemon and then return to her father, explaining she had taken it upon herself to find her own Pokemon to steal. He would have been proud, Leigh thought.

Leigh nodded at Keiji's comment and they continued down the route, Travis nearly tripping several times as he refused to look where he was going since he was so intent on studying his Pokedex. Leigh and Keiji didn't complain, as they were enjoying the first period of silence they had gotten since they had met him (excluding when they were sleeping).

"We're nearly there!" Kata shouted excitedly, pointing ahead of them. Sure enough, Gooseberry Town was clearly distinguishable at this point. Kata, Keiji, Leigh and Travis began to pick up the pace at this, eager to get to the Pokemon Center where they could sleep in proper beds and where Fern and Contremo could get some healing. There was nothing quite as satisfying as civilization after two days of Travis.


	6. A Wishful Reverie

**Chapter Six: A Wishful Reverie**

Kata, Keiji, Leigh and Travis were sitting in a cozy reception room in the Gooseberry Town Pokemon Center. The sofas lining the room were a pleasant cream color and sitting on them felt like floating on a cloud for the children and Leigh after a night of sleeping on the floor. They were waiting for Contremo and Fern to be healed. Travis was looking very animated at this point, no longer absorbed in his Pokedex, and was telling the others fantastic tales of how he had rescued a flock of Spearow from a burning building.

_What crap_, thought Leigh. But she was too happy to be comfortable to complain about Travis' so-called heart wrenching story. She yawned lazily and looked around the reception area, making some attempt to drown out Travis' monologue with her observations. There was a well-dressed lady wearing an elegant pink suit and her dirty blonde hair was pulled into a tight, intricate bun. She was pacing in front of the front desk, looking worried. Leigh wondered what was wrong with her Pokemon (assuming that that was what her worry was about), but realized that there was no use in pursuing her curiosity.

Then, a nurse appeared from out of a pair of large white, swinging doors. She wore the traditional nurse's outfit, a bouncy pink dress with a white apron tied over it along with a white hat bearing a red cross. Her hair matched her dress, but it was so obviously dyed because the color was faded. Her makeup was smeared and she didn't look like she had gotten enough sleep. She held two pokeballs in her hands.

"All healed," she said lazily and handed them to Keiji. He said his thanks and then she disappeared behind the same swinging doors, muttering something about a long shift. The children and Leigh exchanged looks and then, with some hesitation, lifted themselves out of the comfortable sofas and headed out of the Pokemon Center.

They spent the remainder of the day doing normal things – buying supplies like pokeballs, healing potions, and, more importantly, food for when they camped. Occasionally another trainer noticed that Kata, Keiji and Travis had pokeballs and challenged them to a battle. Keiji seemed to be excellent at battling while Kata was rather mediocre, and Travis was the worst of all, although you wouldn't have ever guessed it if you had only listened to his bragging and not seen him in action.

It was night now, and they were heading back to the Pokemon Center where they would spend the night. Travis felt that the day had been a particularly bad one – he hadn't won a single battle or caught a single Pokemon, and Keiji had been vastly more successful. New Pokemon, lots of wins… how was it that he could get so lucky? And then Keiji was also so much closer to Kata than he was. Travis wouldn't dare admit it to himself, but he was madly jealous.

A magnificent blue Pokemon with shimmering feathers swooped over Travis; its eyes were glittering rubies, and it circled over him while the entire town looked at him with envy. At last, the legendary bird Pokemon landed in front of him, beaming at the young boy. The most envious eyes of all came from Kata, while Keiji and Leigh looked jealous and began to sulk away.

"_Let me come with you_," the bird spoke in a soothing voice. Travis' mouth gaped open, and he nodded his head, and then Kata was running up to him, and the entire town was cheering for him, and children were coming to pet his new rare Pokemon, and….

"TRA-VIS!" yelled Keiji as Kata waved her hands in front of Travis' face, pulling him out of his daydream. He frowned. There was no Articuno, no cheering crowds, no impressed Kata; he had imagined it all. Instead, he had nearly run into the closed door of the Pokemon Center. Leigh wasn't sulking, either; she was looking at him as if she questioned his eyesight. After all, he _had_ held that Pokedex so close to his face, Leigh reasoned.

They entered the Center, walking through the reception room that they had lounged in earlier that day, and into a large room filled with beds that were to be used at a traveler's leisure. The beds had thick, quilted bedspreads the same color of cream as the sofas in the reception, and there were huge windows on the far end of the room that had been thrown open while a gentle breeze blew in. They weren't the only ones in the room, however – many lamps were lit on the cherry nightstands next to each of the beds, where trainers were reading their favorite magazines, studying their Pokedexes and writing things. There were also those who had already fallen asleep, and because of this any talking was only a quiet murmur.

Leigh, Kata, Keiji and Travis walked quietly to a grouping of beds that were unoccupied and slipped beneath the warm blankets. The sounds of other trainers whispering to each other, turning the pages in their books and magazines and tiptoeing around lulled everyone to sleep – that is, everyone but one person.


	7. Motives

**Chapter Seven: Motives**

The next morning, Leigh was woken with a start. Kata was shaking her furiously; the expression on her face matched the way Leigh was being shaken. Leigh, groggy, mumbled something and looked around wondering what had caused all of the alarm. Keiji had turned deep purple with fury like when Kata had insulted him, and was clenching his fists, as if on the verge of shattering something.

"I told you I didn't trust her! She's just a rubbish thief!" Kata yelled, tearing things out of Leigh's backpack. Leigh stared blankly at Kata; it was too early for her to reason what was happening. Soon Keiji leapt off of his bed and began to help Kata go through the older girl's things. Travis was still sleeping soundly, while the other trainers had given up on asking what had happened and were pretending that nothing out of the ordinary was going on although actually listening in.

Kata's blue eyes glimmered threateningly. "Where did you put it, you rotten girl; _where_!" Kata asked after she had obviously not found what she was looking for. Leigh tilted her head in confusion, only now beginning to put the pieces of the puzzle together. They thought that she had stolen something of theirs.

"What are you talking about?" Leigh asked. Keiji scowled. Kata picked up the package wrapped in brown paper that Leigh had said she had to deliver when she first asked to accompany them from the large mound of Leigh's possessions that she had made. Her hand trembled as she held it in front of Leigh, and then began to tear it open.

"I'll bet you anything there is a load of nothing in here!" the angered twelve-year-old yelled. Leigh opened her mouth to speak, but no words escaped her. Inside of the package there was a black velvet jewelry case. Kata, convinced that it was empty, opened it. Inside she saw a silver heart-shaped locket with a note wrapped around it. Leigh sighed and decided not to stop her. They were bound to find out anyway. Kata took the note and began to read it aloud, with Keiji's head wrapped around her shoulder so that he could see.

"_Dear Mom_," Kata began, "_I know that I was never the person that you had wanted me to be. Dad, Tom, me – we all betrayed you. And I don't blame you for running away, who wouldn't have? But Mom, please don't forget the good times that we had. Perhaps Dad's identity was a lie, but our love wasn't. I am no longer the person that I used to be. I have dug up my conscience from a grave that it was placed in long ago, and I am only now learning just how horrendous I have been._

_I had always wished that I could change my past so that I could be just like everyone else. But now I realize that if I had the chance, I wouldn't change the past. It has shaped the person that I am today, and now I see that I don't have to keep my head stuck in the sand. I can't change the person that I was yesterday, but I _can_ change the person that I am today and the person that I will be tomorrow. And I hope that you can find it in your heart to forgive me, and to never forget the life that you once had, even if there were more bad parts than good. I know I won't._"

"_I love you, Leigh_," Keiji ended. The anger had disappeared from both of their faces, and they both looked solemn. Kata picked up the silver locket and opened it. Inside was a picture of a family. There was a man and a woman with their arms around each other. The man had tanned skin and dark hair, and his eyes were dark brown. The woman had long, curly auburn hair and olive green eyes. Her smile was bright and the twins could sense her kindness even though it was only a photograph. Standing in front of them was a boy about their age. He looked very much like his father, and had a mischievous grin. The boy's shoulder was placed on a much younger Leigh, with her auburn hair long and with pink ribbons in it. Her eyes weren't their usual piercing yellow, but a warm chocolate brown. She was wearing a flowery green and pink dress. Admittedly, neither Kata nor Keiji had ever imagined Leigh looking like this as a child.

"You… you wanted to take this to your mom?" Kata asked nervously. Leigh inclined her head and took the locket, note, and its case out of the girl's hands. She kept her head down, wrapping the note back around the locket's silvery chain and closing the case. She then dropped it into her now empty backpack.

Leigh sighed. "I suppose you want to ask questions?" she asked. The twins quickly shook their heads, which wasn't what Leigh had expected at all. She was pleasantly surprised. Then she remembered why they had opened her package to her mother in the first place; something of theirs had been stolen; but what?

"Why were you—?" Leigh began, but there was no need to finish her question as Kata and Keiji had already begun to explain.

"His Rattata was stolen," Kata said sadly, "and I, of course, thought that you had stolen it. I was suspicious of you from the start. We met you in a scummy part of town next to a dead guy. You then gave us what I thought was a dumb excuse to travel with us. So, you know, I just figured that that was why you had come along when Keiji told me about Contremo." Keiji blushed to show that he had agreed with Kata. There were other trainers had stopped pretending to be ignoring them now and were listening intently, but the twins and Leigh neither noticed nor cared.

"But there's loads of people, anyone could have stolen him," Leigh reasoned. Keiji shook his head, and then pulled out what seemed to be some sort of portable safe.

"I'm kind of paranoid about these things, so I bought a safe to keep my pokeballs in at night. No one could have figured out the combination unless they watched me open it – and I waited until I thought everyone was asleep to do so. And even if another trainer had watched me open it, how could they have been observant enough to see it after only seeing me do it once?" Keiji explained. Leigh agreed, this was quite fishy; and if someone was going to steal a Pokemon, why a Rattata? And why didn't they take Fern, too?

"Travis," Leigh concluded. Kata pursed her lips and shook her head. Could she possibly be accusing _Travis_ of theft?

"Rubbish!" Kata said, "Travis wouldn't do something like that! Besides, how could he get away with it? If he stole the Rattata he would have had to run before we woke up, or we would've noticed eventually! Rattatas don't just come out of nowhere." Leigh nodded – what Kata was saying made sense. Any logical person would have wanted to make a clean getaway. But then, this _was_ Travis that they were talking about.

"Since when has Travis applied logic to anything?" Leigh thought aloud, and Keiji agreed. "Well, I don't know—" Kata began. Then suddenly, someone approached them. It was the same woman that Leigh had seen pacing in front of the front desk in the Pokemon Center yesterday, looking worried. She was wearing a white, chiffon nightgown and had her hands on her hips. It was obvious that the woman had been listening in and wasn't afraid to admit so.

"Well then, why don't we just ask this Travis boy?" she asked in a sharp voice, and walked over to Travis' bedside. Leigh, Kata and Keiji were so surprised at her boldness that they didn't stop her.

Travis' eyes came into focus upon a woman whom he had never met. She looked stern, and agitated. This woman vaguely reminded him of his mother, and he had initially wanted to be a Pokemon trainer to get away from his parents, so he didn't take to her. Of course, he had also wanted some glory, which he hadn't gotten, not yet at least.

"Done any stealing lately?" the woman asked Travis. She didn't sound angry, but she did sound serious. Travis slid out of his covers, leaning his back against the headboard of his bed. He was tired of looking up at her face. He stretched out his arms and his legs, looking casual, waiting for the woman's anticipation to build before he answered. He liked the idea of her depending upon him to answer before she would relax.

"No," he said in a smart-aleck kind of way. He looked across the room and saw Keiji and Leigh glowering him, and Kata was looking disappointed. Travis looked uneasy at Kata's look. He didn't care what Keiji and Leigh thought of him, but Kata looking like that at him was a prick in the side. He was trying to be cool, he had read about the glory of people in gangs like Team Paradise. Why wasn't Kata impressed? He wanted to be admired; he wanted to show that he could protect Kata better than Keiji could. Travis was counting on them accusing Leigh. He should have put the pokeball in her backpack. Why didn't he do that? Failing to do that was something a twelve-year-old would do! Then Travis remembered that he _was_ twelve years old.

"You did it, didn't you?" Leigh asked from across the room. Travis clenched his teeth. His plan had been poorly done, how could he have been so stupid? There was no wriggling out of it now, he had blown it. They would not let him travel with them anymore, and he would never see Kata again. Then he got an idea.

"Yes… but… I can explain!" Travis gasped as anger shadowed Leigh, Kata and Keiji's faces.

And so he made up a reason why he had stolen Contremo, returning him to his rightful owner. He somehow managed to convince Kata that he hadn't intended on keeping the Rattata, although Keiji and Leigh couldn't believe what a rotten scoundrel he was. Only by Kata and Travis' begging did he get to stay in the company, and Keiji vowed that he would never sleep through the night again.

"The things people do for crushes," Leigh mumbled once he had finished. The twins hadn't heard what she had said, but Travis had. He shot her a disapproving look. How could she have seen right through his explanation? He thought that it was so well-constructed that he would have believed it himself had he not known it was a lie. Travis decided not to comment on what Leigh had said. Then Leigh, Kata, Keiji and Travis left the Pokemon Center, feeling just a little more uncomfortable than they had when they had entered it.


	8. Racing Minds

**Chapter Eight: Racing Minds**

Leigh and the children were camping again. They had decided to take a southwest route out of Gooseberry Town towards a popular port city which was called Brineville. It was a bit out of the way on their cross-country journey, but Kata was avid on walking along the beach. The route went straight through Brine Forest, and Kata, Keiji, Travis and Leigh had set up camp right at its edges. Travis actually helped this time because he wanted to get back on Kata's good side.

Keiji was curled up in his sleeping bag, trying to not let himself blink so that he wouldn't fall asleep. He was tired, but convinced he was to stay awake in case Travis tried to pull another Contremo-theft incident. Earlier his mind had been racing of what Travis' real motives were for stealing his Rattata and what Leigh was hiding from them. Keiji and his sister had agreed to not ask questions of Leigh, but that didn't mean that he didn't have any. But now, all he could focus on was staying awake, keeping his drooping eyelids from shutting. Keiji pulled the edge of his thick green sleeping bag over his shoulders, and then, without even realizing it, fell asleep.

Travis' mind was racing, too, but he wasn't conscious. Images of when he still lived at home kept haunting him. He would hear his father's voice booming in his ears – "You're too young, you wouldn't understand". Over and over he relived a conversation between his parents that had occurred late at night when he was supposed to be sleeping. The memory was burned into his head. He had woken up, tiptoed to his bedroom door and creaked it open a crack. His mother and father were discussing Travis becoming a Pokemon trainer. They were happy – no, joyous – that their son would no longer be 'burdening' them. Travis realized his parents didn't care about him; they would be just fine without him; he wasn't important to them. It was a small event, but Travis would never forget it.

The twelve-year-old boy woke himself from the all-too-real nightmares, wiping beads of sweat from his forehead and tears from his cheeks. He had gasped rather loudly when he snapped out of his dreams, stirring Kata who was next to him and Leigh who was across the tent, but would be woken by the slightest noise. She didn't appreciate being a light sleeper, but she realized that listening in on the late-night conversations that seemed to always go on while they were camping seemed to have her gain a wealth of information.

Kata realized that it was Travis who had awoken immediately. He must have been having bad dreams again. She sat up and looked to her left, where just as she had expected, Travis was shivering and sweating simultaneously. Kata glanced around the tent – Keiji and Leigh appeared to be still sleeping. She caught Travis' glance and smiled. She didn't smile because she was glad that Travis was in distress, but because she wanted to remind him that everything was going to be okay.

"Nightmares?" Kata whispered as she leaned in closer to Travis so that he would be able to hear. Leigh could only make out parts of the word, but could figure out what she was asking because it was quite logical to ask if someone was having nightmares when they woke up suddenly in the middle of the night. Travis nodded slowly, still shivering and sweating.

"Yes… it was about… them again," he breathed to Kata in reply. Kata inclined her head in understanding and leaned in closer, wrapping her left arm around Travis while stroking his face with her right hand. Travis squeezed her in response, draping his head over her shoulder. Kata stared past Travis and looked straight at Leigh. Leigh's stomach lurched; had she realized that she wasn't sleeping? But soon Kata's glance drifted away, and after Kata and Travis had exchanged some words of comfort they fell back to sleep.

Leigh, still awake, wondered who 'they' were, and why Kata would give such an embrace to a boy who had stolen her twin brother's Pokemon. In fact, Leigh found everyone's reasons for traveling in the group quite amusing. She was only there because of a gut feeling Keiji had, Travis was only there because Kata pitied him, Travis was only there because he fancied Kata, Keiji was only there because he wanted to protect Kata, and Kata was only there because she wanted to be protected.

Leigh began to wonder if the group would become closer or drift farther apart, but she didn't linger on the thought because soon, she too was consumed by sleep.


End file.
